Mumbai: Producer Dinesh Vijan, whose last two releases ‘Chhaava’ and ‘Stree 2’ were major successes at the box office, said the audiences are connecting to stories that are about the ‘new Bharat’.
The filmmaker was asked about the poor performance of Hindi movies in theatres and what was it that he thought he was doing differently from others.
“I can’t tell you what I’m doing and what others are not doing because I’m doing the same thing. We’re trying to understand that right now. We are not aspirational. We’re Indian in the way we think and the common man wants stories about us. So, the people we’re surrounded by are important because they are going to influence the decision that you’re going to make. I’m fortunate that my writers and directors are grounded, real people and all are connected with the new Bharat. It is important to know who we are and the new Bharat is proud of who they are,” Vijan said at the trailer launch of his new movie ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’.
He added, “There’s so much here - there’s a ‘khazana’ of stories here.”
When asked if he deliberately weaves in the theme of inclusivity in his movies, Vijan said he feels blessed to have found the right storytellers like Karan Sharma, Laxman Utekar and Amar Kaushik, who take pride in narrating stories of India.
“The directors are from Bharat and we get along like brothers, not like project makers. It is important to build the right atmosphere. Creativity doesn’t flourish in desperation. It has taken us 20 years to reach here and we want to create an atmosphere with stories like this, and if we ever forget it, the media) remind us, because sometimes we forget from where we started.”
The producer-director, also known for movies such as ‘Love Aaj Kal’, ‘Cocktail’, ‘Badlapur’, ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘Bala’ and ‘Mimi’, said he learnt a lot from failures. “We’ve had our share of heartache also. It has been good for the last few years, so we’ve learnt. Your failure teaches you more.”